2025 Gophers Position Previews: Defensive Line

On the other side of this interminable heat, humidity, and rain is a precious thing in Minnesota: fall. To get you ready for it, Ski-U-Blog is again previewing this year's Gopher football team, one position group at a time. Today, we cover Minnesota's veteran defensive line.

Likely Starters

The most exciting player in the Gopher front six is Anthony Smith. Smith has turned heads since he first appeared on campus, owing to his obvious physical attributes. He is real big — 6-and-a-half feet tall and 285 pounds — and he moves abnormally well for someone that big.

The concept of Smith was always intriguing, and in 2024, he turned that promise into results, leading the team with 11.5 tackles for loss (6.0 sacks). Jah Joyner's presence on the edge meant Smith moved back and forth between end and tackle, and Smith showed he could make plays from either spot. And while Joyner improved greatly as a run defender, Smith has always been solid in that regard.

Even with 5-technique all to himself, we can expect Smith to continue moving around the line. End is his better position, but his size and athleticism play anywhere. The ability to put their best returning pass rusher over any gap will give the Gophers an added advantage.

This is probably Smith's last year of college ball, though he is only a redshirt junior. He should improve upon 2024's all-Big Ten honorable mention and impress NFL scouts on his way out of the program.

While he did not quite reach Smith's heights, Deven Eastern also levelled up last season, becoming a legit starting nose tackle. Though he had shown his abilities in moments before, he became a much more consistent player in 2024. He was harder to move and more tenacious on a down-to-down basis, clogging gaps and taking runs off their intended path. And from time to time, he finished off plays himself.

The best example of Eastern's progress was his performance at UCLA, where he made 3.5 tackles (3 solo) but was also a consistent roadblock for the Bruins' interior line.

There were still mixed performances like the loss to Michigan, containing both the best and worst of his talents. Worse was the Iowa game, where Eastern was central to the Gophers' struggles controlling the line of scrimmage. For his final season to be a big one, he'll need to take his improved consistency to yet a higher level. An even better Eastern anchoring this defensive line will make it exceedingly difficult for teams to run the ball against Minnesota.

Jalen Logan-Redding enters his second year primarily at tackle, fourth year as a starter, and sixth and final year in the program. Logan-Redding had played a lot of tackle in 2023, but a full-time position change became a necessity to relieve the logjam at 5-technique and fill a hole at 3-technique. He added a little weight, moved over a gap, and ended up having a decent season.

Decent seasons have been the norm for Logan-Redding. He has never affected quarterbacks much, and battling guards and centers instead of tackles did not change that. He was the only lineman or linebacker on the team with 200 or more snaps and no sacks. (He showed his smarts batting down four passes, however.) Logan-Redding's work against the run is far better, if rarely fantastic. He does his job at a solid level. At this point, he is what he is, but that still makes him an important member of the line.

Jaxon Howard did not do much wrong in 2024, but that's largely because he did not do much at all. He was not a situational player, as I thought he might be, but a true backup. By the end of the year, he had become the second-string rush end but maxed out at 16 snaps in non-blowouts.

Now, Howard will have to play at least twice as much. We saw momentary glimpses of his pass rushing potential, as he recorded four Pro Football Focus-tracked pressures. None turned into sacks, but one directly led to a turnover:

Minnesota will need Howard to be a threat to quarterbacks, as Smith is the only proven FBS pass rusher on the team. Based on the small sample we saw of him, a few sacks will help offset a possible drop-off in run defense from Danny Striggow as well.

Considering he is just a redshirt sophomore about to receive his first regular playing time, the only thing that is certain about Howard this fall is that he will not have achieved his full potential yet. That is fine. The Gophers will accept the short-term costs if he develops as hoped.

Key Backups

The Big Ten has not historically been a conference where you can get away with fielding a 270-pound defensive tackle. But for the last few years, the Gophers have played a light line as part of their passing downs package, using one tackle and a mix of three ends. Making that tackle more of a pass-rushing threat is a logical next step. Having just made 8.0 sacks at Stony Brook last year, graduate transfer Rushawn Lawrence is just the right kind of player for this role.

Lawrence furiously comes off the ball and has the speed to land right in a quarterback's lap, or to shoot gaps in the run game. His aggressiveness can make him susceptible to pulling blockers, however, and he is too light to stand up to double teams. The Gophers may not deploy Lawrence only situationally but very justifiably could.

They will have another undersized tackle, Mo Omonode, supporting Eastern at nose. Omonode is a stout 6 feet tall and 285 pounds, having played three years for his hometown team at Purdue. His shorter stature can come in handy at times, somewhat negating his weight disadvantage in the leverage battle. As coaches say, the low man wins, and he is literally the lower man by default.

Omonode still has to fight a little extra to compete in the Big Ten. He is a scrappy player, keeping his hands active and clogging up more double teams than you'd expect. If he overcomes whatever issue has kept him from practicing, Omonode looks like a useful reserve.

If Omonode is not ready for Week 1, Nate Becker will take more snaps. Becker got a little bit of run early last season but did not make enough of an impact to be considered more than protection against playing the younger tackles on the depth chart.

Minnesota added Steven Curtis from Illinois State as a reserve 5-technique end this offseason. His redshirt sophomore year started with a blowout loss at Kinnick Stadium, where Curtis looked severely outmatched. His best pass-rushing rep was on a play where the Iowa blocker fell down; Curtis subsequently whiffed on an easy sack. Most of the time he was on the field, he got pushed around.

Curtis rebounded to have a fairly productive year for the Redbirds: 34.0 tackles (22 solo), 5.5 TFL (4.0 sacks), a pass breakup, and two forced fumbles. He only officially started one game but was one of the team's three regulars at defensive end.

Still, watching Illinois State's two FCS playoff games did not convince me Curtis is immediately ready to play at this level. He has some good attributes the Gophers can work with: He's long and quick, and he could develop as a pass rusher. I just need to see him hold up against Big Ten offensive linemen to believe that he can be an asset defending the run.

Redshirt sophomore Karter Menz had nine snaps in January's bowl game, his most in a game that was still competitive. I expect he will see more playing time this season, taking a few reps from longtime special teamer Lucas Finnessy. Howard will continue to block Menz from a full-time role, however, barring injury or underperformance. Finnessy is not a difference-maker but does his job passably.

Potential Rotation Options

Tackle Riley Sunram redshirted in 2024 and, thanks to an injury, did not sneak onto the field late in the year. He and Theorin Randle, a redshirt sophomore who has played fewer than 10 college snaps, are far down the depth chart at nose but will need some experience this year to soften the blow of upcoming departures. The same goes for Mo Saine, who, like Lawrence, is on the lighter side at 275 pounds but could help spell Logan-Redding at the other tackle spot.

Notables Unlikely to Contribute

In theory, prospects put their best tape out there. This is what made Enoch Atewogbola's junior highlights so confusing. He clearly had the right physical traits, as well as a motor that didn't stop. But watching him register half-pressures instead of sacks and make tackles for 2-yard gains instead of for losses was uninspiring. Even at edge rusher, the position where tools correlate best with future success, you wanted to see more.

Atewogbola's senior highlights brought the "more." He was a terror. He swallowed quarterbacks, batted down passes, chased running backs down in the flat, and in general made the viewer say: "I get it now." Atewogbola nevertheless needs to bulk up a bit and will spend 2025 with redshirt freshman Sam Macy at the bottom of the rush end depth chart.

Adam Kissayi, the 6-foot-8-inch end who arrived from Clemson last April, is also a work in progress. Depending on how much the Gophers move Smith around and put Curtis at end, Kissayi might get some looks. Next fall, he doesn't seem likely to start but should be ahead of Colin Hansen and Rhett Hlavacka. Hansen (from Byron) and Hlavacka (from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin) committed on back-to-back days while visiting last summer. Neither reported a second power-conference offer and do not seem like high-level prospects. There is ample time for either to prove otherwise.

Abu Tarawallie, meanwhile, really stands out. If the athletic department website is to be believed, Tarawallie's first season of varsity football was as an 8th-grader, and he totaled 110 tackles for loss at the high school level. On video, his athleticism is readily apparent. Tarawallie can move, and he makes plays with violent hands. The way he works blockers and occupies gaps, I think he can stick at nose, but Tarawallie's spot will depend on how well his strength and quickness play against college opposition. If he develops properly, he could be a fun player at either tackle spot.

The highest-rated lineman in Minnesota's 2025 class is Jay'Quan Stubbs. Stubbs' highlights show a player who explodes off the ball and on multiple occasions barges right through the offensive linemen in front of him. A double-double machine in basketball as well, he plays with power and quickness that, once refined, could make him an effective 3-technique tackle.

Jaylin Hicks is another tenacious, athletic lineman who redshirted last year and is probably another year away from the field. Hicks played a lot of edge rusher in high school and arrived to campus at an official 250 pounds. There's a chance that Hicks, now at 260, moves to end down the line, but wherever he lines up, he'll have to show he can maintain his explosiveness at whatever his maximum weight is.